State Troopers might have been protecting the John Fetterman, the Democrat candidate for PA, but the union had some bad news for the Democrat! According to reports, Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate for the Senate, has received the support of the union for the Pennsylvania state police, which might be awkward, and certainly bad news for John Fetterman.
Oz would be “a strong champion for law enforcement officers … at a time when the law enforcement community is facing its greatest challenges.” according to the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association. In the contest for governor of the state, the union, which is comprised of 4,400 current and retired state troopers, supported Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro over Republican Doug Mastriano.
The Pennsylvania State Police also performs ordinary law enforcement tasks by protecting the governor and lieutenant governor of the state. According to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, troopers frequently travel with Fetterman on non-governmental matters, such as the family’s yearly trip to the Jersey Shore, based on reports.
Between August 2021 and August 2022, the police expended costs for Fetterman, totaling more than $104,000. According to expense reports, troopers joined Fetterman in March for a campaign fundraiser in Beverly Hills. According to the data, State Police spent $3,076 on travel, lodging, and rental cars related to the fundraiser.
The vote of support comes in the midst of a potent Republican attack wave on Fetterman’s views on criminal justice reform and continuing concerns over his health after suffering a nearly deadly stroke earlier this year.
Republicans have accused Fetterman of being “dangerously liberal on crime” in advertisements, citing his votes as president of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons to release murderers serving life sentences for first-degree murder, including one man who killed an 18-year-old to obtain money to buy heroin.
According to Fetterman, the board has released more convicts during his leadership than all of his predecessors put together. He has boasted of using the board as a “bully pulpit” to fight for progressive changes to the criminal justice system. In a poll conducted this month by Fox News, Fetterman’s lead over Oz had fallen from 11 points in July to only 4 percent.
This is Oz’s second support from a police union in the past week. In a statement supporting Oz, the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police claimed that Fetterman “has a long history of anti-police rhetoric and advocacy for policies that make communities less safe.”
John McNesby, the chairman of the union, blasted Fetterman for backing Larry Krasner, the left-leaning district attorney of Philadelphia who is widely held responsible for the city’s rising crime rate. In a July endorsement, thirteen Pennsylvania sheriffs favored Oz over Fetterman, claiming that Fetterman’s stance on crime would “add to already rising crime rates in Pennsylvania.”
Although he has not publicly embraced the campaign to defund the police, Fetterman has collaborated extensively with activists on both the campaign trail and while serving as lieutenant governor. The secretary of the Board of Pardons appointed by Fetterman has demanded to “disarm the police” and named Mumia Abu-Jamal her “friend” and “buddy.”
On the anniversary of 9/11, Fetterman ran for office with a pro-abortion activist who backed the defund movement.
